Steinbrenner was said to be in good spirits beforehand and what he watched only could have lifted them as Joba Chamberlain turned in his third straight stellar start since the All-Star break in leading the Yankees to a 6-2 victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field.

Chamberlain, matching a career-long outing, shut out the Rays in eight innings, allowing three hits.

"He's been really good his last two starts and we want it to carry over and (have him) just continue to build on it," Girardi said before the game. "He's done everything he's had to do to win ballgames and we just need him to continue to do that for us."

Chamberlain, who came in 2-0 in the season's second half having allowed just two runs, was even better than his two previous starts against the Tigers and Athletics.

"I was going to be aggressive and do the things I've done in my last few starts," Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain (7-2, 3.58), who struck out five and walked two, retired the first eight hitters he faced before allowing a two-out single in the third to Jason Bartlett.

Matt Garza, who came in with two no-decisions this season against the Yankees (62-39) despite a 2.25 ERA against them, pitched well -- just not well enough to beat Chamberlain.

Garza (7-8) went seven innings, giving up eight hits and three runs.

The first of those came in the first as Derek Jeter dropped a triple, his first of the season, down the line in right, scampering to third when the ball bounced off the wall and skipped away from right fielder Gabe Gross.

After Johnny Damon lined out to Garza, Mark Teixeira delivered a ground single through the hole to right, bringing in Jeter for a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees added a run in the fourth, with Alex Rodriguez starting the inning with a single. He moved to third on Hideki Matsui's double into the corner in left and scored to make it 2-0 on Cano's groundout to second.

Cano made it 3-0 in the sixth, crushing his 16th home run of the season, one pitch after fouling Garza's 1-and-1 delivery off his right calf area.

The Rays had few hard hit balls off Chamberlain.

One of the harder ones came in the sixth when Carl Crawford smashed a two-out grounder up the middle that banged off Chamberlain. But the pitcher quickly snuffed out any Rays hopes of a rally by putting Evan Longoria in an 0-and-2 hole, then striking out the third baseman swinging on an 86-mph slider.

Chamberlain did not throw his 80th pitch until facing Ben Zobrist with none out in the seventh. Pitch No. 84 was a 93-mph fastball that Zobrist watched catch the outside part of the plate for a called third strike.

In the top of the eighth the Yankees took a 4-0 lead when Posada smacked a single to right to bring in Cody Ransom, who pinch ran for Matsui after he beat out an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error.

Chamberlain retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the eighth before giving up a single.

up the middle to Bartlett. But he got ahead of B.J. Upton 1-and-2 before inducing a soft flyout to center on his 101st and final pitch.

Melky Cabrera hit his ninth homer of the season and Teixeira added his 26th in the ninth to make it 6-0.

Brian Bruney came in for the ninth and he struggled again, giving up a triple to Crawford, a two-run homer to Longoria and a double to Carlos Pena. Girardi then called on Mariano Rivera, who finished the game.